


Aspirin

by iamatheatrekid



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: 70s, Adult Poets, After Welton, Boston, But they're back!, Charlie's something but we don't have time for that here, Coming Out, Gay Steven Meeks, Gen, M/M, Neil's dead oops, They aren't actually in a relationship, also it's stephen, and lost touch, but like the table is open, i call them by their first names, meet cute, they both got expelled
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:15:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28694562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamatheatrekid/pseuds/iamatheatrekid
Summary: On his way to an undesirable date, Stephen Meeks runs into an old friend, which brings up memories and conversations he thought he left at Welton all those years ago.
Relationships: Charlie Dalton & Steven Meeks, Charlie Dalton/Steven Meeks
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Aspirin

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at work
> 
> ....instead of working

Stephen could already feel the headache coming in and he hadn’t even drank anything yet. As a teenager, he could drink and smoke his heart away without feeling anything, but now he had to be more careful and take better care of his body. Not only would drinking tonight mess him up for tomorrow, but his heart was swimming around in anxiety for the date he was on his way to.

The going on dates part was the worst part about dating, but he had to bear through it if he wanted a relationship, so he was forcing himself to go on yet another date that a friend of a friend set him up on.

But not without some aspirin. That was imperative if he was going to be going to a loud, sweaty bar and be expected to wake up normally in the morning. He left his apartment annoyingly early so that he wouldn’t be sitting around checking his hair again and could enjoy a walk in the autumn Boston air to the bar. He intended to be quick in and out of the grocery store picking up the medicine, but then his shoulder was bumping into someone as he turned the corner.

The problem of not looking up when he walked in the haste. He was so shocked that his fingers lost their grip on the little bottle of pills and they went rolling on the floor, the man he ran into bending over to pick them up.

“I’m so sorry,” Stephen started saying, but when the other man stood, he froze.

Charlie Dalton. Nuwanda. In front of him. In the grocery store.

“Meeks!” Charlie yelled, immediately throwing himself into a hug.

“Dalton, what-?” Charlie squeezed him tight, knocking out his breath. When he let go, Stephen got a grip on him to really look at him.

He was the same Charlie Dalton. Same smirk on the same handsome face. “What are you doing here?” Stephen found the breath to ask.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Charlie asked, lightly hitting Stephen. “Shouldn’t you be in London or something fancy?”

“I don’t know, Boston was calling me.”

Charlie smiled at that. And they were both looking at each other and grinning sillily, until Charlie remembered that he was still holding Stephen’s aspirin. He bowed down and handed it over, saying, “For you, Sir Meeks.”

“Thank you Mr. Dalton,” Stephen laughed.

“You feeling alright?”

“Oh, yeah,” Stephen laughed again. “I just know I’ll be drinking tonight and thought I’d prepare.”

“Meeks. Always thinking ahead.”

Stephen followed Charlie on his own way to get his groceries, just some frozen meal for dinner in pure Dalton fashion. Walking through the store together made Stephen’s heart jump in the fact that he was beside an old friend, it feeling unreal that they were together. He had so many questions and so many things he wanted to say, so he started with, “What have you been up to? Living up to the banker dreams?”

The two had lost touch after both being expelled from Welton. Their parents refused to let them talk to each other and eventually didn’t know where to start.

“God no,” Charlie sighed. “We all knew that wasn’t going to happen. I’m a journalist now. I write for a local paper.”

Stephen gasped, pleasantly surprised. “Really? Wow, that’s amazing, Charlie. You’d be great at that.”

“Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. What about you? You end up going to Harvard?”

Stephen laughed deeply. “After getting expelled? Thank God for that. No, now I’m a professor.”

“Ooh, what do you teach?”

Stephen hesitated. With a sigh, he answered, “Latin,” which was, of course, met with laughter.

Charlie had to catch his breath before he could say, “Of course you do.”

Stephen kept checking his watch throughout their trek through the grocery store, knowing he wouldn’t be late for his date, but starting to get worried he wasn’t going to be early. They were walking towards the checkout while Charlie kept chattering on about his life and how he loved being in Boston and when he started saying that they should hang out soon to properly catch up, Stephen looked at his watch once again and answered, “I’d love to some other time; I have to meet someone soon.”

Charlie shimmed up to Stephen. “Ooh, Meeks has a date?!” He teased.

“I, uh, I do actually.” He really hoped Charlie wouldn’t push more about said date and he could go off with his aspirin, but he wasn’t lucky in that.

“Is she pretty?” Charlie asked. He pulled out his card, opting to pay for his and Stephen’s groceries, but Stephen wanted to get out of there.

He looked down at his shoes at that question, thankful that Charlie’s eyes weren’t on him to realize. “Yeah,” he weakly said.

Charlie didn’t notice the shift in mood and how tightly Stephen’s mouth was shut. “Where you going?” He asked, leading them on their way out.

Stephen tried to bring himself back to his normal state and replied, “Just some bar up the street.”

“How about I walk you? I could use a drink myself.”

“No!” Stephen quickly said, a bit too quickly. “No, it’s fine, you have your frozen dinner.”

“Screw the frozen dinner, I’ll just get a drink. You got extra aspirin?”

Stephen slowed his walk to try and get into Charlie’s head. “Really, Charlie,” he said, “I’d rather just go by myself.”

Charlie seemed like he was starting to catch on and earnestly said, “Hey, I won’t bother you on your date. You won’t even know I’m there.”

He wasn’t catching on. He may have thought he was, but his embarrassing presence wasn’t the problem. It was him being there as a whole that was the problem. Stephen didn’t want Charlie to even see him on the date.

He stopped walking and turned to face Charlie. “Charlie...there’s something I never told you back in school,” he said quietly.

Charlie stopped too and turned to him. He carefully asked, “What?” starting to get nervous.

Stephen took a deep breath and told himself to continue to look into Charlie’s eyes. “I’m, uh,” he started. “I’m actually...gay. So...”

Charlie shifted. Not that he was disappointed, but like a wave washed over him of surprise yet revelation. “Oh,” he softly said.

He suddenly felt fidgety. He didn’t know what to do with his hands or what to say or anything. Stephen was still holding his ground, so it didn’t seem like Charlie would have to comfort him or reassure him that everything was okay. But there were so many thoughts swimming through his head.

He ran a finger through his hair and sighed, “Wow, Meeks. I-I didn’t know.”

“No, yeah I know.”

“You knew in school?”

Stephen guiltily nodded. “I was questioning for a while but I finally figured it out,” he sighed and rubbed his head, “ugh, what? Sophomore year?”

“Wow,” Charlie said again. “I had no idea.”

“Yeah,” Stephen quietly said.

“Do your parents know?”

Stephen nearly laughed. “No, of course not. They’d kill me. I doubt they think I’m getting married ever so they’ll just never find out, I guess.”

He didn’t seem sad when he said it, but Charlie could read him better. Because it was a thing they had all experienced with Stephen in school, his lack of interest in girls and dating and sex that they shrugged off of him being too nerdy or too shy, but it in reality it was just different. And they could have let him have that interest freely if they had only known. Of course he wanted a relationship, Stephen hated being alone, and the fact that he had to hide his want for it from his parents, from their friends, from Charlie, broke his heart.

Stephen checked his watch again. Plenty of time to spare but he still wanted to move on from the conversation, the tension between the two now incredibly awkward.

“Your date,” Charlie reminded himself, bringing them back on their walk to the bar. “Hot guy?” He asked.

Stephen nearly cringed at how forcibly Charlie was trying to be casual. “I have no clue,” he admitted. “One of my friends said she knew someone who was gay and just set us up.”

“Oh, that sounds-”

“Awful,” Stephen answered for him. “It’s a dreadful circle with not a lot of options.”

Charlie looked over at him, but Stephen’s head was still hung low. The dating world wasn’t easy for a gay man in the early 70s. There weren’t many options and Stephen Meeks had high expectations for an ideal partner, no expectations that were even close to being matched.

“Wow,” Charlie sighed again. He still had so much swimming through his head, so many questions, so many thoughts, so many moments that had gone overlooked in their youth. “I’m so sorry,” he offered.

“Never mind it,” Stephen responded, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “How has your dating world been?”

“Nonexistent,” Charlie laughed.

“Really? A ladies man like you?”

“Really.” Charlie sighed and hesitated going on. But if Stephen Meeks could put his heart out, then Charlie Dalton could do. “I suppose I have an issue with...committing to a relationship.”

Stephen hummed as that settled. He wondered if it had anything to do with Neil. Charlie not allowing himself to get so close to another person again in fear that they would leave him, too, but he didn’t feel it was his place to ask.“Scary thing, that is,” he said instead. For Charlie wasn’t the only one still struggling after Neil.

They were nearing the bar, and an odd silenced surrounded them as they knew their time together was drawing to a close. “You ever wish Keating was around to guide us through all this?” Charlie found himself saying, his thoughts spilling out of his mouth.

Stephen looked over to him, their eyes meeting. “It’s my biggest wish,” he softly responded.

The music of the bar drifted out into the street, clouding their soft silence and bringing forward the notion that the night would go on.

The two men continued to look at each other as if time was frozen. Charlie reached over and clasped his hand onto Stephen’s shoulder. “You have fun on your date, Meeks,” he said. “Even if you don’t know him.”

“Are you not coming?”

“No, I’ve got my frozen dinner calling me. You’ll call me?”

“Of course, Charlie.”

Stephen smiled widely. And the moment was gone.

Charlie went on his way and Stephen went on his.

Charlie’s apartment was empty, cold, quiet. Much like every night the past few years, he spent his time reminiscing on his school years, only this time he anxiously awaited a phone call that would bring all of the memories to life again.

Stephen might not have been so alone, cold, or quiet, but his mind wasn’t with the guy in front of him. It was with Charlie Dalton. 

He swallowed down the aspirin earlier than he expected to.

**Author's Note:**

> So I watched DPS a couple of weeks ago for the first time (i didn't know it was on Prime Video) and I am....obsessed? To say the least?
> 
> This ship has not left my mind and you will 100% see me write more of them (where they're explicitly together too!)


End file.
